Courses involving tobacco, alcohol and drugs called off, censored at Reed College

In the early part of the 20th century, radical progressive pioneer Carrie Nation became notorious for fighting the scourge of alcohol by walking into saloons with a hatchet and destroying bottles of liquor.

In 2013, the president of small, ultra-progressive Reed College in Portland, Oregon has canceled two classes and forced the alteration of two others over fears that students could be exposed to alcohol, ordinary tobacco or information about the safe use of illegal drugs.

The classes at issue are part of Paideia, a unique program at Reed that allows students, staff and alumni to organize and teach short, free, non-credit courses on any topic. Paideia takes place on campus the week before each spring semester starts. (RELATED OPINION: Time to end the drug war)

Current student Austin Weisgrau was planning to teach one of the courses, “Kombucha and Other Fermentation Basics,” reports The Quest, Reed’s independent student newspaper. The class was going to cover brewing kombucha — a trendy swill made of yeast and live bacteria — as well as the fundamentals of fermenting sauerkraut and alcoholic drinks.

About a week before the class was slated to begin, Weisgrau received an email informing him that the private school’s president, John R. Kroger, would not allow the course unless the alcohol-related portion were removed.

The concern was that the school could not ensure that all students would be old enough to brew alcohol under Oregon law.

Kroger also demanded that another course involving cigarette-rolling be altered so that participants would not actually smoke any cigarettes until the end of class.

Two other classes, “Adroit Anticipation of Awesome Altered Adventures 201″ and “Put that in your Pipe and Smoke it,” were canceled outright by the school’s president. User comments in The Quest’s article indicate that “Altered Adventures” would be about how to conduct yourself safely while experiencing the effects of certain drugs. A comment suggested that “Put that in your Pipe” would involve “only legal herbs.”